


Fate Sealed

by mosylu



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Domesticity, F/M, brief reference to post partum depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 06:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16718169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mosylu/pseuds/mosylu
Summary: Joe is doing everything he can to be a good dad and partner while Cecile's home on maternity leave, but she's still lost her sparkle. What's going to bring it back again?





	Fate Sealed

**Author's Note:**

> After watching 5.06, this just fell out of my brain onto the page and frankly I wanna share it. Because I miss Joe and Cecile being cute AF together.

Juggling the baby carrier and the diaper bag, Joe managed to get hold of the doorknob. “Don’t forget, Miss J,” he said to his companion. “If Momma’s asleep, we don’t let out a peep, you got me?”

Jenna blew a bubble.

“I'mma hold you to that,” he said.

She added a raspberry.

“Smart mouth.”

Cecile had been dragging so much lately. Not like he was doing a regular song-and-dance number with a newborn waking them up every few hours, but sometimes he looked at Cecile, shoulders drooping, lines around her mouth and dark shadows under her eyes, and something in him went cold and fearful.

He told himself that Cecile wasn’t Francine, and he wasn’t his younger self, who thought it was just a patch of baby blues and it would go away if he pretended it wasn’t happening and brought home his paycheck on time.

He’d taken Jenna out today to give Cecile a break. Maybe take a nap, or put in a long gossipy phone call to Joanie, or watch some of that trashy reality TV she pretended to hate. Something to recharge her batteries. Bring the sparkle back.

God, he missed that sparkle.

He eased the door open, whispering, “Shhhhhhh, baby girl,” to Jenna.

“Joe?” Cecile called out.

“Hey, baby,” he called back.

She dashed down the stairs. “Hi!” She went up on her toes to give him a kiss, holding his face in her hands and leaning into him.

“Mmm,” he said, automatically catching her waist to steady her. “Wow. You have a nice afternoon?”

“Yes,” she said, bending down to unlatch Jenna from the carrier. “Hello, sweet girl! Hello!” She pressed smooches to their daughter’s forehead. “Did you have a good time with Daddy?” She exaggerated the sound of her kisses to make Jenna squeal. “Mwah. Mmmmmmmwwwwah!”

“Wow,” he said, watching her make wide-eyed, open-mouthed faces at the baby. “What did you get up to?”

She whirled with a giant grin. “I scared the sh- ” She paused and covered Jenna’s ears. “The shit out of a crooked FEMA employee.”

“You what now?”

“Ralph came by looking for you, and I knew how much you wanted to spend daddy-daughter time, so I said I’d help, and - ”

He listened, mouth slightly ajar, as she ran over her afternoon. She was alight, practically glowing with excitement. She was -

She was _sparkling._

“And did you know I have a moniker?”

He thought of some of the things he’d heard said about Cecile, even just in his precinct. “Uh - ”

“Ce-Seal-Your-Fate Horton,” she said triumphantly. “Did you know that?”

“Oh, that one!” he said, relieved. “Uh, I mean, yeah, yeah, I knew that one. You didn’t?”

“No! I didn’t!” She paused, narrowing her eyes. “Are there others?”

“Mmmm,” he said, looking away. “Yes.”

A pause. “Can you say them in front of our baby?”

“Nnnnnoooooo.”

“Mmmm,” she said in a way that meant she was going to get them out of him by hook or by crook. “All right. Anyway, so Ce-Seal-Your-Fate Horton was on the case today and Joe _. Joe._ It felt so good.”

“I can see that,” he said.

She paused, holding Jenna against her shoulder, staring up at him. “I - uh - look, baby, I’ve been doing some number crunching.”

“What kind of numbers?” he asked.

“Our budget,” she said. “The price of daycare, a little earlier than we’d planned.”

When he didn’t say anything, she hurried on. “Look, babe, I know we talked about me staying home for three months with her, and these past six weeks have been wonderful and I wouldn’t give them up for the world but - ”

“You’re bored,” he finished.

“I’m _climbing the walls_ ,” she said. “I didn’t even know how bored I was until I had that FEMA employee on the ropes. Oooooo, it felt good.”

“What I would have given to see that,” he said.

“So even if I go back part-time, the terms of my maternity leave give us some breathing room, and if we find someplace good, then - ”

“You got anywhere in mind?”

“That’s it?” she said. “You’re in?”

He took her shoulders. “Baby, you’ve been so down lately. I was worried. But seeing you right now, with that sparkle in your eye that I’ve been missing - whatever you need to do, I’m in. I know you. You’ve already got a list of possible daycares - ”

“And I’m just now going through the state licensing reports.”

“Uh-huh,” he said. “And I’m  gonna guess you’ve already made appointments to check them out?”

She tilted her head. “I was waiting for you to come home for that.”

“Were you?”

“You want to see the places that’ll be taking care of our baby, don’t you?”

“Damn right I do,” he said. “So let’s look into them.”

“Okay,” she said, shifting Jenna over so she could pull her shirt open. “I’m going to feed her real quick. Can you get my computer downstairs? Let’s get researching.”

Later, with a milk-full Jenna snoozing in her playpen and reams of state inspection reports on Cecile’s laptop screen, Joe looked away from the screen and at her intent face. He smiled to himself.

“Well,” she said firmly, scratching through a name on the legal pad that sat between them on the table. “That one’s off our list.”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “You know the criminals aren’t the only ones who call you that,” he murmured in her ear. “Ce-Seal-Your-Fate Horton.”

She gave him a coy look. “Oh yeah?”

“Mmmmhm. My fate was sealed the minute you asked me out.”

FINIS

**Author's Note:**

> And now a PSA: If you have or know someone who needs daycare, please hit up your state licensing office website for the recent inspection reports of the facility you're considering. This can be childcare, even small in-home daycares, and elder care. Names are crossed out in the public version, but you can see what it’s been dinged for and how many times. I worked for a short time in my state’s licensing office. The stories I heard would curl your hair, and often parents and caregivers had no idea they even had the right to that info. Trust me, you do!! okay /PSA


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